Manna Co-Edits New Book on Education Governance

Among scholars,
analysts, and observers, there is general agreement that our current education
system requires major improvements. Despite substantial reform efforts in the
past decade, the U.S. system of elementary and secondary schooling has not
shown significant improvements in student achievement and continues to
exacerbate inequalities.

Manna and the book’s
collaborators observe that the balance of current education scholarship tends
to focus on policy—the programs and initiatives that are proposed and
implemented in schools. While acknowledging the importance of policy analysis,
he suggests that previous work has failed to thoroughly investigate the
important role played by education governance—that is, the institutions, power
dynamics, and governing processes that help to produce and implement those
policies in the first place.

Education Governance for the Twenty-First Century, co-edited by Manna and Patrick McGuinn,
associate professor of political science at Drew University, brings together
writings from a wide range of authors, including scholars, think tank analysts,
and policymakers working on the ground to formulate and implement education
policy.

The book is a
collaboration between the liberal-leaning Center for American Progress and
conservative-leaning Fordham Institute, and published by the centrist Brookings
Institution, reflecting bipartisan agreement on the importance of studying
education governance as a source of problems and potential solutions in the
field.

With this volume,
Manna and McGuinn aim to address three key questions. How do existing governing
institutions affect education policy and shape what happens in schools? How has
governance either helped or hindered efforts to improve schools? Finally, how
can governance reforms create positive change and promote student success?

To answer these
questions, Manna and McGuinn have organized the book into four major sections.
First, a selection of articles addresses challenges and problems that arise in
the current system of education governance, examining how existing governing
institutions can be an impediment to progress in the field. Second, the authors
look into recent changes in the structures and institutions that govern
education in the U.S. Third, the book’s selections examine perspectives on U.S.
education governance from outside the field, lending a unique angle to the
project; three articles look at the U.S.’s education system in terms of
education in other countries, while one compares education governance to
governance in health care and environmental policy. Finally, the book includes
a series of pieces about the way forward in education governance, exploring
ideas for reform and visions for the future of the U.S. education system.

Speaking at the
Center for American Progress at an event promoting the book’s
release, Manna emphasized how crucial governance is and the significant impact
it has on what happens in schools around the country. “Pondering these issues should be an
important part of the conversation,” he said, emphasizing the importance of
governance as society discusses “how to improve schools so that children who
graduate from our system are able to thrive in our democracy and in our
economy.”